40th

Anniversary of philantropy

The frozen rainforest<span>Joseph Cook</span>

2016 Young Laureate, Exploration

Glacial microbiologist Joseph Cook says the top few metres of the Arctic’s ice are like a “frozen rainforest”. His research is a journey of discovery that reveals how ice micro-organisms on the Greenland ice sheet shape our world.

LocationGreenland

It’s a captivating landscape, serene, with giant rivers that carve their way through the ice, vivid neon blues, pinks, greens – it’s not the empty, white wasteland people imagine.

The Earth’s ice is home to trillions of micro-organisms. Glacial microbiologist Joseph Cook, through his Ice Alive mission, is shedding light on this little-known ecosystem and its effect on the Earth’s climate, nutrient and carbon cycles.

Over a million billion trillionMicro-organisms estimated to be living in the top 2 metres of the Earth’s ice

0.1 - 1.0Temperature in Celsius at which micro-organisms in the ice are highly active

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